End of a Chapter, But Not the Book

I've shared here the experience we've had with moving my parents to an apartment. The next installment of the story is the selling of their house, which is finally happening. Actually, given the market in their town, where a Navy base was recently closed, resulting in a lot of available housing in the area, we were fortunate to sell it in 6 months. The closing is tomorrow.

The emptying of the house has seemed endless. Besides all of the house stuff, there was my father's workshop and office and storage areas in the basement and a garage full of odds and ends. We actually didn't completely empty it -- rationalizing that some of the odds and ends we were leaving could be "useful" to the new owner (like the shelf unit with leftover cans of paint from the house doors and trim), the big folding table hanging on the garage wall, and the hedge trimmer.

Don and I paid our last visit to the house last Saturday. It was partly to retrieve just a few more things (a garden cart/wheelbarrow, a half-dozen boxes of various-sized trash bags, the wooden support for the birdbath which I should have taken last fall but which was frozen into the lawn all winter, an electric drill I don't think any of us had seen hanging on the end of the storage cupboards in the workshop, etc. Mostly, though, I think it was to say good-bye.

In a conversation with my parents after the visit, my Mom asked me if I felt sad. I said, "of course - we had a lot of fun times there!" Luckily that satisfied her and I didn't have to admit the sobbing crying jag I had while there. I couldn't have told her that I was really crying about how my parents are less and less able to take care of themselves, let alone a house. Or that I was crying for my own future elderliness.

So, the house chapter closes. The house is gone. There is now no one in my family living in the community where I grew up. The only thing left is a plaque honoring my father on the wall of the school where he was principal for many years and a handful of people who knew any of us.

But, the book is not finished, thanks to a large, extended family who is still close (not necessarily close by, but close). Many of us will be gathering for my father's birthday next week. My siblings are all talking this week about how to help my mother make efforts to be a bit healthier. We've got graduations to celebrate in two months, and anniversaries, and more birthdays, and an all-sibling camping trip planned for August. We'll keep writing memories.

And, of course, I'll keep knitting!

Checking In

Yes, I've been a bad blogger. Every time I check in on one of the blogs I read regularly and the writer hasn't posted, I admit I get a bit huffy. Then I remind myself how bad I've been with my own blog (there's that inner critic again!).

So, I'm checking in. I'm here. I'm present, but busy. The semester is flying by and spring is almost upon us -- the daffodils are coming up! How have I been doing with my New Year's goals? Let's see:

Release
This one is hard. I'm pretty good about letting go of guilt related to keeping my house clean, but then things pile up. Sigh. I'm working at getting ready to let my sons stand on their own two feet, somewhat. I was determined to let them do their own taxes this year, for example. BUT, I invested in TurboTax software for the first time ever so that it would be easier for all of us. Then, circumstances dictated that I had to do one son's taxes for him in order to give the disc to the other son, after giving him a demonstration. Next year? Definitely they are on their own (I hope). Financially, I'm ready to let go, but they aren't so sure they want me to :) We're going to have to negotiate things like whether they will stay on our cell phone account, whether we'll ask them to pay the cost of their staying on our insurance plan, etc. It will be somewhat tricky, but we'll get there. So, "release" is a work in progress.

Presence
This one is a bit easier. I practice it by insisting that we don't have our computers open when we sit down to eat dinner each night, for example. And, by sitting and eating dinner even if we both put together our own plate of leftovers instead of a cooked meal. But, I'm sure there are other ways to keep working on this. For example, I haven't been very good about getting to yoga classes this winter, and I could really use that time to check out of everything else and be present with myself.

Planning
I've been focused on this in fits and starts. For example, I found myself holding off on making travel plans to our sons' graduations. I made the hotel reservations months ago and then lost the piece of paper I noted the information on and had to call around to find out where I'd made them! But, we've got the plane and hotel reservations for the more intensive travel to one graduation, and will have to start putting some thought into the one that is easier to get to.

I've also been getting after some of the filing that is necessary to complete before meeting with a financial advisor. I'm getting there.

Knitting
I've been knitting up a storm whenever I get a chance. I've knit a bunch of faux-felted mittens to put away for next Christmas. I also knit 3 pairs of angora (Lush) fingerless mitts -- 2 pair for a friend who bought the yarn and asked me to make them for her and a 3rd pair for the pianist at choir. I've got enough left to make a pair for me when I get around to it.

I attended Spa, Knit, and Spin with a friend. I was pretty conservative in my purchases, but did come home with a few things:
The purple is Quince & Co. Tern (wool and silk) for a Piper's Journey shawl, purchased at Purl Diva. We also stopped at Halcyon in Bath where I bought something for a gift that I'll have to share after it is given. The blue is from Woolen Rabbit, a hand-dyer in New Hampshire to be used in a couple of Ann Hanson patterns. The red fiber in the baggie is silk muwata, which are also called silk hankies. When I attempt to use them, I'll have to show you how I'll be knitting them into mittens (the theme of the year so far seems to be mittens!). The gray is alpaca and silk for spinning from Portland Fiber Gallery - my one unplanned purchase. And the soap was a freebie from Spunky Eclectic from whom I purchased the muwata.

I've started the shawl, but other than that am still working on mittens. Funny how this has been one of the mildest winters in many years, and yet, here I am knitting mittens!